US Navy faces down Houthi attacks as Washington signals open-ended effort
Saudi Arabia has restricted the US military from launching strikes in Yemen via Saudi airspace, leaving an aging US Navy aircraft carrier to shoulder the campaign in the Red Sea.
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ABOARD USS EISENHOWER — At 3:24 a.m., a low voice came over the public alert system below deck onboard the USS Eisenhower, the American aircraft carrier in the southern Red Sea.
Within half an hour, an F/A-18E Super Hornet roared off the deck and into the night sky, the first of several fighter jets scrambled to intercept half a dozen Houthi drones fired from Yemen toward US and coalition warships.
US Navy pilots of the Eisenhower’s Carrier Air Wing 3 and accompanying destroyers have shot down dozens of unmanned drones and anti-ship ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis into international waters off Yemen’s coast in recent weeks, chalking up firsts in the history of counter-drone warfare.
